Back from the Nether Regions

Hi Everyone,


It's a bit odd nowadays - there are so many ways to connect with people, that it's hard to know which is the most important. I think I do most things - facebook (both personal and a page for the business), official Atelier website, twitter, blogs for my classes and the wedding dress business Atelier, plus other promo work, such as newspaper/magazine articles, flyers, business cards etc., etc....PLUS the best one - word of mouth. This last takes a little time to spread, especially when it's for a business or service which isn't needed all the time by everybody, but it is ultimately the most reliable.
Sooooooo.....tell your friends!!!The Atelier website can be found at www.bobbiesroom.co.uk and the Atelier facebook page is here. 
I have neglected the blogs a bit recently, as the Facebook side of things is so easy to do, but I realised, or should I say, forgot that not everyone uses facebook. So have decided to keep up better with the blogs! Let me know what you think about blogs - do you read them/find them interesting /useful?

I am currently in the local glossy monthly magazine, Four Shires, with a full page article and photos. Only thing is, this article is a year old, as it didn't go in this time last year, as it was planned to, for what reason I don't know! So some of the information is out of date, and I am no longer collaborating with another designer, and the vintage / recycled / personal meaning side of my design work is called Atelier Redolent, not as named in the article. Still, you can see all my latest stuff on the website (link above). Please have a look if you have a moment - it's available in newsagents in Oxfordshire/Warwickshire/Northamptonshire/Gloucestershire/Buckinghamshire

But here we speak specifically about pattern cutting and sewing techniques, although since changing my website host, the Atelier wedding dress blog can't be accessed by anyone but me! Currently working on resolving that, but until I do, I will use this blog for both strands of Atelier. Hopefully you will find it all interesting though....

My one to one  class students have increased noticeably in the last month or so, which is great, and my students are so committed and enthusiastic, it's quite touching.

Stop press - very pleased to announce that my Atelier wedding dress blog has just been rescued from the nether regions of the interweb, and is now available for everyone to see again! It's here:
 bobbie-atelier.blogspot.com

So, this is just to let you know that I will be more blog active now everything's up and running, but please have a look at the facebook page (link above), if you are a facebooker.

Speak soon,

Bobbie 

August Already

Hello Atelier Classes students - past, present and future....

Well, it's great to have new students coming along - and so far, the only reason for anyone stopping classes has been work commitments. People mostly have to work harder, longer and with more responsibility these days. (Someone I met yesterday seems to regularly works a twelve hour day...and that's for an employer, not a self employed person).
 Some of my students are high achieving women (and yes it is all women!), and my theory is that people of that ilk are the kind of people who want to try learning another skill to broaden their 'education'. But sometimes life gets in the way...
There's something wrong somewhere - I could bang on about a lot of things related to this subject (!) but this is a pattern cutting/sewing/fashion/ blog, so I will stick to that here!
Have been studying again one of my favourite books - Pattern Magic, the book by the Japanese woman Tomoko Nakamichi, which is one of a pair (vols. 1 and 2), of amazing sculptural garment shapes developed by her as part of her research into patternmaking for herself and her students at the Bunka Fashion College in Japan. The shapes in here are so inspirational, and with a bit of time and experimentation could be adapted to suit any idea you could have. I have used some of the techniques as part of my teaching at universities, and even if a student never actually uses those techniques again, I hope that the unexpected, outlandish shapes made with fabric as shown in these books could set the design process going in another direction.
That is the job of a teacher, in my view - that of jump starting the thought processes in a student,  not so as to slavishly follow instruction, but to enable the learning of skills and ways of thinking and using ideas so that the student can launch themselves into the ocean of creativity. 
Well that all sounds a bit idealistic, but then, you have to have an 'ideal world scenario' that you hopefully work towards!

******************

An interesting variation on the way I normally work suggested by a new customer/student: 

What started off as a commission for an Audrey Hepburn inspired design and make job - a dress and jacket - has transmuted into a combination of a commission and classes. I will do the design for an agreed fee, and then my customer/student will be a kind of student apprentice while I pattern cut the design, and we then make between us, as the person in question has a lot of sewing experience.

So, designs on the go now, and we'll see how it all works out.

Speak soon!

Bobbie